LCY8737

Most of whom will have some sort of corporate travel agreement which means they are not loyal but just take whatever is booked for them.

NeverFirst

Exactly. We have rules in place (basically BA or cheaper) but for that we have the opportunity to book fully-flex tickets at semi-flex prices.

If a *A carrier gave us the same deal for cheaper we'd be over there in a shot (although, who flies LHR-JFK on *A? There's not a lot of quality there).

BA or bust

I am with (my selected extract of) where Behindthecurtain is coming from. The extract certainly describes me. The one thing I would like to see is some form of rolling membership (say 3 years) to even out the ups and downs of many people's travel due to changes in work patterns. So I have years where I travel hugely and then the next year far less, then the following it goes up again. I think this would do a lot to maintain loyalty for those who 'stick with BA through thick and thin' and better reward long term customers over 'one year wonders' who then scuttle off to another airline.

mfgr

That can't be harming your TP's

To Eat.To Drink

I couldn't agree more. Loyalty drives revenue. It perverts the demand curve. On routes with competition, loyalty encourages one to choose one brand (BA in this case) over another, even if the price is higher. The degree of loyalty determines how large this price difference can be. It is very hard to measure this.

HIDDY

I'd love to know how much of this so called loyalty I keep reading about is because....
a) You fly BA because you're told to.
b) You prefer to fly direct.
c) BA are the cheapest on the route.
d) BA offer the best product?

I do wonder whether those who say their loyalty should be rewarded by such things as lifetime status really are as loyal to BA as they make themselves out to be. I've certainly noticed over the years quite a few posters on this forum disappear probably through a change in employment or travel policy.

economyman

a) You fly BA because you're told to. I decide that for myself
b) You prefer to fly direct. For me flying BA means the opposite
c) BA are the cheapest on the route. Sometimes close to cheapest but never cheapest - I could fly for less
d) BA offer the best product? Certainly one of the best on my routes - I love BA's product although the changes on the TLV-LHR-TLV have negatively impacted some of the product aspects, except that J is still very nice

Habemuspapam

I'm probably an unusual case, as all of my travel is self-funded, both for business and leisure, but I started flying BA after moving to LUX, (back when they flew to LGW,) because they offered the best hard product on the route, with a proper mainline jet and CE. I became loyal to BA because of the consistent excellence of the cabin crews, and in spite of the poor catering. For several years, I flew BA almost exclusively within Europe, (especially after they moved to T5,) and longhaul. Indeed, I would choose to connect through T5 to fly to Europe as opposed to flying direct on LG, because the experience was so nice.

With the move of my home flights to T1, my loyalty has been tested a bit. While all of my longhaul travel is still on BA in J or F, I have shifted all of my European travel to LG until BA returns our flights to T5.

That being said, I remain loyal in general, and for my money it is down to the cabin crews, who are generally exemplary. I can honestly say that in hundreds of BA flights, I have only ever had one poor crew, (shorthaul, thankfully,) and perhaps just a handful of mediocre ones, while the majority make my flights a pure pleasure.

LCY8737

a) All work travel. Cheapest non-stop in a given time window.
b) Accept a stop if it involves significant savings. In the olden days I sought out stops for the additional tier points.
c) They mostly aren't...
d) Y is painful on almost any airline, J has fully flat beds on almost any airline, I don't think BA's product is so much different.

My loyalty is to Star Alliance and One World, and within that group it is mostly down to price.

Behindthecurtain

A) nope its a choice. A choice that changed from BMI when BA upped Moscow to CW and the BMI flights went from being well ahead in terms of J to light years behind and then bought. BTW this is a choice that causes me a lot of ear ache. Pay for a BA flight when GF works UN and keeps telling me she can save money for me!

B) nope, i have routed via LHR to Asia to get upgraded benefits on BA rather than direct on UN, SU or the Gulf 3. Though that could change when Qatar join OW.

C) depends. Usually to the US BA is amongst the cheapest, but not the rock bottom, as in i could save a further 5-15% by say going UA

D) nope UN's new J & F is better than BA in some areas, the Gulf 3 offer a better product and UA's new seats are as good as BA

Its a combination of all these points plus my personal preference and its different by flight. To the US the decision is cheaper price and crappy US connection with domestic flights n bag checks v BA T5 connection straight to destination, so its a decision based on a number of factors

With South East Asia, its more complicated. CX v BA v UN v SU. Done all four BKK SU only has slopey J and whilst the service was great, sleep was crap and the flights back are day flights which i do not like, however i do earn ST Miles, UN has great flat J and superb if a tad Bling-y F, good service, i do not like the day flight back and with the demise of BMI, i no longer earn miles. CX was good, the regional flight was not so good, however its only 3 hours. BA is the longest flight of the lot about 50% more flying, but J upgraded to NF and flight times meant good sleep both ways, high miles and high tier points and a product i am comfortable with. I also have the G3 option, but again flight times are predominantly day and no points.

Price wise UN & SU were highest, BA n CX coming in at a reasonable cost and the G3 were about 10% lower. However all of the airlines except BA screw me on baggage, so as a scuba diver travelling with a lot of kit, including from June a Rebreather with its own tanks, the 10-15% saving goes away so choosing BA is pure preference

When it comes to West Asia and Africa, BA is about the most expensive by up to 100% and i cannot justify to myself paying that much more over the G3 except when scuba diving in South Africa, though if BA were 10% more i would fly them

So yep, BA has my loyalty unless i cannot afford the difference

Joely

a) You fly BA because you're told to. nope, I get to choose who I fly (within reason)
b) You prefer to fly direct. yes
c) BA are the cheapest on the route. definately not
d) BA offer the best product? maybe just, but as a Y flyer it's marginal

I don't consider myself loyal to BA but they wouldn't be loyal to me either, but that would be true of any airline. I spend 10-15k whith them each year far less than a lot of people on this board. I continue to fly BA as I have an investment in them in the form of my BAEC account and status. The status is a key thing as, being a Y flyer, it makes a bigger difference to me than if I was fly J.

shorthauldad

You don't think there's a significant difference between LH's "old C" seat and BA's CW seat?

My wife, for one, would beg to disagree...

Dave Noble

I fly BA if they have a non stop service to where I want to go to and their product/fare is better than competition

which is pretty much the basis for all bookings I make. Ailrline product quality and schedule beat FF points

Arranguez

For a long time I wondered if my loyalty of 130 BA flights a year was not benefitting BA in many ways. 100 of those flights are my work commute and are paid for by me at the lowest price I can. The other 30 flights are last minute work-funded European hops, often in CE and often fully flexible.

Clearly the work flights are the sorts of things BA wants but in taking a 'cheap' seat for my commute, all I do is force someone else to take an expensive seat so why am I any less valuable a customer? I get my first (well earned!) Gold card at the end of next month, just 2 months short of the end of the membership year.

I'm loyal to BA because I like their product (aside from the ex BMI a/c) but I also have an odd fascination with the company too - mostly because I wanted to fly for them in my teens. I have a choice of who I fly (well, I will do once Virgin start flying domestic) but as long as I can justify and afford it, I'll choose BA (partly because going into T5 is also very convenient for work).

Edited to address OP question - I'm not sure. I thought the CIV addressed the revenue and the card addressed the loyalty. I would expect to find that non-Prems who spend a fortune as buyers in a large corporate, and who have a BA account manager, are well looked after regardless of FF status.

PUCCI GALORE

BA always have in the main as the Tier Points are only offered in numbers that will add significantly towards status. I'm not saying that you cannot do so from Y but it will take many more flights.

In the US they always seemed to be having Status Runs - I recall reading about people who would fly in and out of London the same day from the US. I always thought that they were barmy but each to their own.